Social milieu: a service center for the forgotten aged
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Date
2010-07-27T13:41:08Z
Authors
Changwa, Donald Takura
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Abstract
The western concepts and ideologies that shaped South African cites into what
they are today have come at a cost to the recipients of colonisation. Communities
previously that thrived on kinship systems have now been replaced by groups that
coexist in a in a said context. In traditional African village, each age group had their
role within the society, the young adults would go out and work, hunting, farming
etc while the elderly became the guardians, the caretakers of the children, and they
would provide guidance for the impressionable youth while passing down a great
body of knowledge. Within this traditional system the social obligations of the aged
were multi dimensional in the sense that they encompassed religion, education,
politics, recreation, economic, and prophetic issues. In those days, people looked
forward to getting old. In a sense this can be coined within the bounds of Ubuntu.
In these contemporary times, social and economic changes have put into doubt the
continued viability of such traditional arrangements for the elderly. Changes like
increased emphasis on smaller family units, migration to urban areas, new life styles
and changing values all have effects on the traditional forms of care of the elderly.
Financial difficulties have made it imperative for many women to now work for pay
outside the home and also the issues of education for the young have reduced the
caring role of the grandchildren. Within modern society one could also attribute the
deterioration of moral fiber to the breakdown of Ubuntu and the rise of individuality.
This thesis aims to understand the benefits of the traditional African system for the
elderly as a means to develop an appropriate architectural response to the plight
of the forgotten aged. In order to contribute towards the creation of a more locally
relevant architecture for the aged, this paper proposes the development of a hybrid
building prototype that would facilitate the inclusion of the elderly into a community
while allowing them to play an important role in the moulding of its youth